Marijuana Law, Policy, and Authority

September, 2017

As discussed in my book (pages 406-412), marijuana suppliers currently cannot obtain federal protection for their trademarks (or other intellectual property). Some states do provide protection for marijuana trademarks, but that protection is often limited (n. 4, page 411). But Russ Jacobs, who is corporate counsel at Starbucks, has proposed a novel way to expand…

Just because a state legalizes medical marijuana doesn’t mean that physicians will necessarily recommend the drug to their patients. Indeed, surveys have shown that only a small percentage of physicians in medical marijuana states have recommended the drug to their patients or plan to in the future (page 616 of my book). As I discuss…

The Iowa Attorney General’s office just advised the state health department not to authorize two Minnesota medical marijuana dispensaries to supply medical marijuana to Iowa residents. If heeded, the advice would nullify a novel provision of Iowa’s nascent medical marijuana program. The provision, adopted as part of a package of reforms in May 2017, calls…